Psycho Devils: Aran's Story Book 2
Jasmine Mas
Chapter 1
Corvus Malum
REVELATIONS
The beginning: Shackles—Day 1, hour 0
Crack.
Flames exploded as we RJE’d back into Elite Academy, and the five of us returned to an empty classroom.
Orion staggered, and I held my precious mate upright. Scorpius rested his long fingers on the backs of both our necks tightly.
His nails dug into our skin.
I leaned into his familiar touch and tried to ignore the headache that throbbed in my temple.
In a few minutes, everything had changed.
My mates and I were now bound by enchanted tattoos to Aran.
No, Arabella.
The honorable House of Malum was bound to a lying, weak fae. A useless. Manipulative. Woman.
I swallowed thickly, and Scorpius’s nails stabbed harder against my flesh. “Breathe, Ignis,” he whispered softly against my ear.
I nodded to show him I was trying.
Flames licked across my shoulders and down my arms. The heat burned my veins, and sweat dripped down my jaw.
I felt feverish, like I always did when I was close to losing control.
My body vibrated from the sheer force of the power pounding through my veins.
It would be euphoric to release the flames. To raze the world and paint it red with fire.
But I couldn’t.
Sweat made my vision blurry.
“Focus on us,” Scorpius ordered. My Protector’s voice was hard as steel, and he left no room for argument.
His nails dug deeper into my flesh.
Orion leaned against me. His hand reached back and snaked underneath the corner of my sweatpants.
His fingers were icy compared to my warm skin.
I was burning up.
Scorpius pulled my neck back and pressed his cheek against mine. “Listen to my voice,” he demanded.
His fingers tightened, and I focused on the pain.
I let it ground me.
“You are in control,” he said firmly. “You rule the fire. It does not rule you.”
I tried to nod, but his grip was so tight that my head wouldn’t move. I licked sweat off my lips and repeated, “I am in control.”
Orion put more of his weight on me as he leaned back, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I breathed in his decadent, sweet scent. He smelled like danger with a sweet edge.
Like poisoned candy.
The pretty man in my arms was addicting.
My chest pounded erratically; I leaned my weight against Scorpius’s powerful figure. His impressive muscles easily supported me and Orion.
I was sandwiched between my mates.
My Revered was in my arms.
My Protector held me up.
Scorpius’s heartbeat pounded steadily against my back, and I closed my eyes and concentrated on matching the rhythm.
“Focus on my nails,” he whispered as he gripped my neck tighter. “Focus on your breath.”
I concentrated on the prick of pain.
Orion inhaled loudly, and I followed his lead. He exhaled with a whoosh. So did I.
His silky blond hair tickled my chin, and he tilted his head up.
Stunning, warm brown eyes looked up at me with concern, and his pouty lips parted. “You okay?” he mouthed.
A bead of sweat dripped off my chin onto his mouth.
His red tongue flashed out and licked it off.
Fuck. I swallowed thickly.
“Yeah, I am,” I said throatily as I stared at the lips of my Revered.
Since puberty, I’d always been interested in other people’s lips. Interest had turned into a full-blown obsession when I met Orion. The depraved things I wanted to do to him.
Scorpius’s fingers pushed my head forward, and I grinned because my Protector knew exactly what I needed. Hell, he knew me better than I knew myself.
I pressed my lips softly against Orion’s.
He tasted decadent.
I licked his mouth wantonly and enjoyed the salty-sweet taste. His pupils expanded until the warm brown was mostly black with desire.
Even though our mating bond wasn’t completed, I pressed my tongue harder into his mouth.
He melted against me and groaned.
I nipped at his tongue, grabbed his hips with flaming fingers, and pulled his firm ass back.
Orion mewled against me. I stabbed my tongue deeper into his mouth, and the faint trace of smoke made goose bumps explode across my neck.
My mind blacked out.
I kissed him deeper, like I was trying to consume him. The smoky taste mixed with his sweetness and short-circuited every rational thought I had. I needed to consume it. Inhale him.
Scorpius’s nails dug deeper as he pressed my neck forward and crushed my face harder against Orion’s.
My Protector’s cock was so hard I could feel it throbbing through both our sweatpants.
Scorpius was a sadomasochist, after all.
I groaned with frustration.
And nothing hurt worse than being close to something you wanted but knowing you couldn’t have it.
The familiar uneasy feeling washed through me, and Scorpius wrenched my head away. Orion rubbed at his chest as if he could physically push away the sensation.
The three of us panted loudly in the quiet.
Scorpius pulled away, and Orion took a step forward, putting space between us.
Stunning brown eyes looked up at me, then shuttered with devastation. Fingernails trembled against the back of my neck.
He looked at me with concern.
“I’m fine,” I said gruffly.
Flames danced across my arms, but the feverish feeling was gone. All that remained was the queasy, unsettling feeling that occurred when we got too close to one another.
My Revered couldn’t meet my eyes.
My Protector couldn’t stop digging his nails into my skin.
I was their Ignis, and I was failing them.
We were damned men.
Three mated devils who couldn’t complete their soul bond because they were missing their fourth mate.
Until we found our other Protector, we couldn’t touch one another like we wanted. Like we needed.
I raked my hand roughly across my buzzed skull and breathed deeply.
Pushed my shoulders back.
Widened my stance.
For the first time since we’d returned from getting the tattoo, I took in my surroundings.
We were standing in the middle aisle of Lothaire’s classroom.
The vampyre was standing at the window. He stared out with unseeing eyes and looked more like a ghost than a man.
“Wow, what a kiss,” a feminine voice said from the far corner of the room. “That was, just wow. No words. Very intense.” There was a low whistling sound as she blew out smoke.
I ignored her.
Bloodred rays refracted through the room’s stained-glass windows that formed a mosaic of rolling fields.
The peaceful imagery mocked me.
Lothaire whirled around and kicked a desk chair. It exploded into scraps of metal as it slammed against the wall.
None of us flinched.
We were used to his violence.
Lothaire pulled at his scalp and stalked over to his desk while muttering about a guardian and righteous path under his breath. He threw papers around like he was searching for something.
He muttered frantically about secrets.
He was losing it.
“Why do you guys have sex with other people if you’re so into each other?” the feminine voice asked.
I gritted my teeth and pretended that she didn’t exist.
She said louder, “Seems kind of disloyal.”
I concentrated on the hush of the dusty classroom. The perverse sense of tranquility that accompanied the quiet.